Book of Ages
Compiled from sagacious historical and contemporary source texts of various languages and rendered here in Urthe's Common script: a single Eon, organized into two Eras [Before the Common, and the Common], three Periods '[Early—Middle—Late], six '''Epochs '[Primordial—Ancient—Classical—Modern—Postmodern—Ultimordial] and twelve '''Ages '''of Urthe, with each Age lasting 2,150 years. '''The Eon begins with the dawn of the universe, almost 15,000 years ago... THE CONCEPTION—12,900 BCE Aom grasps the immeasurable, immaterial, immortal void—a singular emptiness, beyond all scale or substance or spirit—and conceives a zero-dimensional point, setting the strings of the cosmos in motion. Instantly, the point becomes two-dimensional: a growing circle, spreading over the Philosophical Dimension—unlimited Chaos and unlimited Law—and the Integral Dimension—unlimited Density and unlimited Sparsity. At once, the circle becomes four-dimensional: a hypersphere encompassing the Moral Dimension—absolute Evil and absolute Good—and the Thermal Dimension—absolute Cold and absolute Heat. Suddenly six dimensional, the hypersphere unfolds along the Mental Dimension—from purely Finite to purely Infinite—and the Vital Dimension—from purely Negative to purely Positive. Now eight dimensional, the hypersphere simultaneously crosses the Primal Dimension—ultimate Matter to ultimate Energy—and the Temporal Dimension—ultimate Past to ultimate Future. Ultimately, spanning the Vertical Dimension—Up and Down—and the Horizontal Dimension—Back and Forth—and the Lateral Dimension—Left and Right—the Fabric of Reality encompasses the eleven orthogonal dimensions of the universe. The hum of the cosmic strings propagates through the dimensions. A sea of bosons and fermions begins to form. A century goes by as baryons and mesons evolve, and in another century, atoms of hydrogen and helion emerge. By 12,500 BCE, the first nebulae take shape. Scattered atoms of lithium and beryllium appear as nebulae grow more dense. The first stars are born, which create more elements: the first atoms of boron, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. By 12,000 BCE, larger stars form, and bring into existence more elements. Stars come together to create galaxies, and blow apart in supernovae, producing even heavier elements. Soon comets, asteroids, and other rocky bodies begin to populate the cosmos. By 11,000 BCE, our Silken Chain galaxy; and our sun, the star Solus, found their places in the heavens; next, the planets of the Solus system, from the Outer Planets: Hera, Cronos, Dominus, and Imperius; to the Inner Planets: Ferrus, Urthe, Nimbus, and Icarus. It is here on Urthe—third from the star Solus, in an unremarkable corner of the Silken Chain galaxy—that our story continues. BEFORE THE COMMON ERA THE EARLY PERIOD: 12,900—4300 BCE 12,900—8600 BCE: THE PRIMORDIAL EPOCH THE FIRST AGE OF URTHE: 12,900—10,750 BCE "The Age of Purity"—"The Age of The Virgin" The history of our universe begins with the Conception, at the dawn of time. One dimensional strings, a mere 1 × 10-35 meters long, vibrate in each of the eleven dimensions of the universe. Strings in the Primal Dimension resonate with strings in the Vital Dimension, creating basic elementary particles (fermions, bosons, etc.). These vibrate with strings in the Integral, Thermal, and Temporal Dimensions, forming composite particles. These vibrate with strings in the spatial and upper dimensions, forming elements and compounds. Elemental compounds, resonating with strings in these dimensions, form the material features of our observable universe. Water had a daughter, Queen Hydrogena, Fire then did sire King Helios. Earth gave birth to dashing Lord Lithos, Lovely Lady Beryllia, the heir of the Air. The common are ruled by the first pair, But the last are in charge of the rare. Boros, and Carbos, Nitrogena, Oxygena, Fluorina and Neos are the last of this sort, That make up the royal alchemical court. 12,900 BCE The Conception 12,800 BCE A Sea of Fermions and Bosons 12,700 BCE Baryons and Mesons 12,600 BCE "Queen" Hydrogen and "King" Helion 12,500 BCE The First Nebulae 12,400 BCE "Lord" Lithium and "Lady" Beryllium 12,300 BCE Dense Nebulae 12,200 BCE The First Stars 12,100 BCE Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen 12,000 BCE Large Stars 11,900 BCE The Light Elements 11,800 BCE The First Galaxies 11,700 BCE Supernovae 11,600 BCE The Middle Elements 11,500 BCE First Asteroids 11,400 BCE The Heavy Elements 11,300 BCE The First Comets 11,200 BCE The Milky Way 11,100 BCE Solus: The Sun 11,000 BCE The Solus System 10,900 BCE The Outer Planets: Imperius, Dominus, Cronos, Hera 10,800 BCE The Inner Planets: Icarus, Nimbus, Urthe, Ferrus = The Clash of The Elements = Supernatural Forces from the inner Elemental Planes strive amongst one another in the vast new universe, twisting the strings, creating material forms of all sizes in their own image. Air begets nebulae, and worlds of gas coalesce. Fire begets stars, and worlds of flame ignite. Earth begets asteroids, and worlds of rock accrete. Water begets comets, and worlds of ocean condense. In the deep emptiness of space, rarely do these creations collide, but when they do, they usually destroy one another. But sometimes, instead of annihilation, the competing Elemental Forces create stable, hybrid planets. Fire rushes in to claim the creation of a new world. Earth counters, and contains Fire within a lodestone shell. The shell proves too thin, as it melts, sinks and congeals into a molten ball in the belly of the flames. Earth doubles its efforts, packing on ore, thick and heavy, struggling and shifting over an unquenchable Fire below. Earth is keeping Fire pinned down, but Fire continues to squirm and buck with violent volcanic outbursts. Water, sensing an opportunity for dominance, rushes to cover the sprawled Earth, but discovers that Earth is still too rough to completely subdue. Water lays low and holds its ground, succeeding in covering most of the new world’s hot, rocky surface; however, a large patch of Earth still retains a notable share of prominence. Invisibly, Air rolls over the world’s surface, here slow and silent, there rushing and roaring, always acting as an aloof instigator: stirring up Water, wearing away at Earth, and snuffing or stoking Fire. These Elemental Forces, arriving at just such a stalemate after battling for an age, ultimately create the world we call Urthe. THE SECOND AGE OF URTHE: 10,750—8600 BCE The Age of Gold—The Age of the Lion In the beginning, Urthe is mostly covered by an immense and frigid ocean: the Sea of Thalassa. A single island continent stands out from the surface of this vast water: a gargantuan landform called Pangaea. At the center of this land is a smaller sea: the Sea of Tethys. The Force of Nature acts on the land and in the sea, and brings forth microbes and other micro-organisms. These struggle briefly in life before succumbing eventually to unremarkable deaths. For years, such minute and mundane life and death struggles go on. Some lifeforms magically adapt to their harsh environs to evolve, survive, and multiply. As flames rage and land shakes and oceans heave and winds blow, the life of Urthe adopts many unique and resilient forms. Strange oozes, jellies, puddings, and slimes spread and mobilize. Fungi, mould, seaweeds and algae bloom. Flying and crawling vermin beyond number––ants, assassin bugs, beetles, bumblebees, centipedes, cave crickets, dragonflies, ear seekers, horseflies, hornets, leeches, mantises, scorpions, slugs, spiders, termites, ticks, wasps and worms–-colonize the planet’s surface and sky. The Force of Dragons arrives, laying claim to the new world as it lays hundreds of eggs, some dully coloured, some shining like polished metal, in the mountains and the forests and the deserts and the swamps of Urthe. Soon after, mollusks and crustaceans form in the waters, and ferns and other simple plants begin to grow on the land. Time passes. Schools of fish fill the waters, while frogs and toads and salamanders and newts hop and crawl and wriggle and squirm through sand and marsh and mud and bog. Eventually, trees are growing on the surface of Urthe, herded by Treemen into great forests that cover wide swathes of land. Then the reptiles appear: lizards and snakes, tortoises and turtles, dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and all over the world, the dragon eggs, laid a century ago, begin to hatch. = The Animals of Urthe = Antelope, bats, and banderlogs, beavers, bears, and buffalo, camels, carp, catfish, cheetahs, chipmunks, condors, crabs, crocodiles, dinosaurs, dolphins, eagles, eels, elephants, ferrets, foxes, frogs, and gophers, hedgehogs, jackals, jaguars, leopards, lions, lizards, lampreys, mice, minks, moles, monkeys, muskrats and more.... Narwhals, opossums, otters, and octopodes, owls, pigs, pike, piranha, porcupines, rabbits, raccoons, and rats, rays, seahorses, sharks, sheep, smilodons, snakes, and squids, squirrels, swans, tigers, toads, urchins, vultures, whales, and wolves spread across the land and in the waters. Life on Urthe blossomed and flourished. A multitude of seeds and spores and species competed and combined and created new forms of life, usually after their own kind. Some rare creatures, however, were blessed or cursed to be more heavily touched by the Forces of Chance and Magic (or perhaps some other mysterious Forces). These rare breeds begat magical beasts, aberrations, and other strange and monstrous things: ankhegs in the plains and forests, basilisks lurking everywhere, bhaergalas and ettercaps in the deepest woods, galeb duhr in the mountains, griffons from the hills to the high peaks, hydras in the swamps and underground, subterranean lurkers and otyughs, remorhazes lurking on the frozen Thalassan wastes, rocs patrolling the southern mountains, subterranean ropers and rust monsters in the depths, trolls spreading everywhere, vodyanoi lurking in freshwaters, worgs haunting the forests.... Even genies and other strange elementals from the Inner Planes, and godly Forces of the Outer Planes wandered freely over the fertile Urthe in these early centuries. Some Forces created truly special, sentient races to live upon the Urthe, imbued with the freedom of will to create their own fates. Races of aboleth, brownie, couatl, dragon, dryad, elf, goblin, ixitxachitl, lammasu, nymph, ogre, pegasus, satyr, saurial, shedu, tabaxi, treant, and unicorn all arose in the early part of the First Age. All the living things of the Urthe reproduced and spread, across the face of Pangea, into the lush forests and open savannas of the south lands, or throughout the temperate woodlands to the north; or throughout the depths of frigid Thalassa or tropical Tethys; as best suited the fitness of each particular type and kind. = The Settling of Urthe = In the southern coastal waters of the sea of Thalassa, the ixitxachitl find their domain. Vodyanoi inhabit the deepest lakes and rivers. Fearsome aboleths haunt the subterranean lakes and caves. The tropical areas are home to solitary flying couatls, wandering winged prides of lammasu, and herds of winged shedu, and scattered clans of tabaxi. The temperate plains and woodlands are claimed by tribes of tiny brownies, lovely lone dryads, roaming bands of elves, clustered clans of satyrs, and a few unicorn families. Tribes of ogres and goblins, scattered nymphs, herds of pegasi, and groves of treants make their homes within all the wooded lands of Urthe. Dragons fight among one another: chromatic versus metallic. Black dragons claim any swamp or jungle as their sovereign territory, while blue dragons fight bronze dragons for control of the sea of Tethys. Green dragons claim the temperate forests; red dragons fight copper dragons and mercury dragons and silver dragons for the hills and mountains; white dragons claim the arctic; yellow dragons fight brass dragons for the deserts. Gold dragons fight black and blue and green and red and white and yellow alike, wherever they may be, whenever they judge such confrontation to be wise. = The First Elves of Urthe = The Elven Force planted seed-like "baramin" in all the beautiful places of the Urthe and, like the Force itself, the Elves that grew from them are powerful and beautiful. Some Elves were born on the mountaintops, some were born in the valleys and the plains, some were born in the forest, and some were born on the seashores. Like the Force, these Elves were very curious, and highly intelligent. The Elven Force appeared before the Elves, and raised them as a parent would. The Elves explored the world before them, under the divine guidance of their Force, in whatever environment they found themselves. The Elves spoke among themselves, and with their fellow Urthen creatures. They befriended the Brownies and the Centaurs and the Dryads and the Nymphs, the Pegasus and the Unicorns and the Treants and the Couatl, and even some members of the metallic Dragonkind. They spoke bravely and respectfully to all the Forces they encountered upon the Urthe. The Elves talked to their animal neighbors, great and small, and conversed with all the trees, and plants, and even the stones in their surroundings. The elves showed friendship to all their fellow inhabitants. Gold, silver, and gems of all kinds littered the Urthe in this age, and the Elves collected some of these in recognition of their beauty. They developed uses for oil, and created stone lamps that they used in their temples for their first rituals. Soon, Elves of the seashore met Elves of the forests, and Elves of the mountaintops met Elves of the valleys. Stories were shared, in poetry, in song, in dance, and in celebration. With this intermingling, the Elves began to increase their numbers. “Never the Muse is absent from their ways: lyres clash and flutes cry and everywhere maiden choruses whirling. Neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed in their sacred blood; far from labor and battle they live.” The Elves lived in ever-growing nomadic tribe communities. They collected, and later cultivated, the calabash fruit, which they used for food, for containers, for pipes, for music, and for their many rituals. They hunted, and fished, and harvested wild grains, using elegant tools of wood and bone and ivory. They helped the struggling herds, and the smallest fishes, and the dusty fields, and the drying forests, and the grateful animals and plants helped the Elves in return. Some Elves took special interest in a particularly clever breed of ape, which they called the Hsing-sing. The Elves loved to watch, from a safe distance, and assist these creatures too, always unseen, from time to time, whenever it appeared like the Hing-sing needed help. During harsh storms, the nomadic Elves took shelter beneath the waves of the canopy of broad trees, or in wide caves of stone. They sometimes painted on the walls of the caves; pictures of the beauties of life on the surface, intended as messages of peace to the frightening and often-unfriendly creatures of the dark places underground, who would emerge from time to time. Other than the occasional run in with a Beholder, or an evil Dragon, or a pack of Goblins, one had a sense that the Force of Peace walked the Urthe. The Elves lived a peaceful existence like this for over seven hundred years. After a time, some Elven groups began to make structures in the woods; others began to build temples and small buildings of brick and stone. After surveying the continent, the Elves divided Pangaea into three nations: Aedan, Borea, and Knod. The first settlements were created; including the village called Gerincoa in the land called Aedan. In these early settlements, the first arcane magic of the Elves was developed. = The First Orcs on Urthe = When the Orcs emerged at last, they sought to make war upon the Elves. Heavily boned, thickly muscled, and grotesquely featured, with coarse hair, yellow-brown tusks, and mottled skin of a greensh grey pallor, the Orcs stand about six and a half feet tall, on average. The Orcs attacked with their jagged stone-bla ded knives and spears, and the Elves defended themselves with their elegant hunting weapons: graceful arrows and elegant spears of wood, horn, ivory and stone. For over seven hundred years, ambushes, occasional assassinations, and random raids escalated to frequent skirmishes, and eventually, full-scale war raged between the two races. The Elves were winning the war, on the verge of wiping out the Orcs, when the Force of Orcs and Destruction himself stepped onto the field of battle. The Force of Elves then appeared on Urthe too, and the two Forces fought mightily, with the Force of Orcs finally losing an eye, and the Force of Elves standing over him, victorious. But, rather than destroy the Orcish race utterly, The Force of Elves and the Elves themselves agreed to allow them to live in the lands east of Aedan, so long as they agreed to keep the truce, and to stay within their own borders. The Force of Destruction and his Orcs had no choice but to accept the truce, for the moment. The Force of Peace, who had fled, once more returned to Urthe. The Orcs retreated to the land called Knod, bitter in defeat, and hungry for revenge. They set to work, razing forests, mining for ores, and breeding new warriors: building for the war to come. The Orcs burrowed back underground, tunneling their way underneath the Elvish lands, developing their plans for a devastating sneak attack. For eight hundred years, they stayed underground, and they grew accustomed to the dark. Aom looked on… 8600—4300 BCE: THE ANCIENT EPOCH THE THIRD AGE OF URTHE: 8600 – 6450 BCE This period draws attention to a number of important themes concerning Urthe's early history. During the Ancient Epoch, humanoids migrated throughout various parts of the world. We can call this 'the peopling of the Earth.' During the Third Age, many relied on primitive stone tools to hunt for food. They also gathered food. For example, they might pick berries. None had developed sophisticated agriculture yet. A term associated with Period 1 is big geography. Big geography is exactly what it sounds like. Big geography is the global view of world history. It concerns the peopling of the Earth, where different groups of people settled and why, and how these different people groups interact with one another. The Age of the Great Mother—The Age of the Moon—The Age of the New Stone: = Greater Forces of the Age = Moradin Soulforger(Seven Heavens): God of Dwarves Shar(Grey Wastes of Hades): Goddess of Darkness Tyr(Seven Heavens): God of Justice and Law = The First Dwarves of Urthe = Called the New Stone Age by the Dwarves, and the Cancerian Age by the Elves, the Great Mother Age saw the birth of many things. Following the example of the Force of Elves, the Force of Dwarves planted seeds of ore for a people in his own image, deep in the stone and iron within the mountains, where they quickly awoke. The first of the Dwarven people were brought to life. = The Cataclysm = The Force of Destruction raged again, furious that another rival race to the Orcs had been planted in the dark caverns of the Urthe. Instead of challenging the Force of Dwarves directly, the Stormlord aimed to crack this new world itself beyond repair. The Force of Destruction, and his servant Forces, conspired to send an iron comet hurtling to the young Urthe, but the Force of Justice redirected the cataclysmic bullet to destroy the Orc’s land of Knod instead. The impact destroyed the land, and The Force of Justice's right hand, utterly, and nearly wiped out the entire race of Orcs. From the black hole in the Urthe where the Orc nation once lay, the Force of Darkness sprang forth, and the first night fell over half of the Urthe. Many scattered orcs had escaped the fate of their fellows, as they were not in Knod, but in the tunnels underneath the lands of Elves when the cataclysm struck. Some of these subterannean Orcs had even evolved into a new species of creature: the first of the Bugbears. The massive impact of the comet raised the oceans and caused an epic event known to history as “The Great Quake”. Forests died, lakes and rivers dried, and lands turned to desert. The landscape, until then one large continent, rent itself from the force of the impact, and shook apart forming seperate landmasses. The surface of Urthe was torn asunder. Some surviving Orcs began to breed with Goblins, producing the first of the new Hobgoblin species in some matings, and in others, the first of the Kobolds goblins and male orcs made kobolds, while female orcs and male goblins made hobgoblins. Some Ogre tribes, threatened and isolated by flooding, evolved into an aquatic breed known as Merrow. One small Ogre group of elite Ogre kings became isolated on a small island, but rather than turn to the sea as the Merrow had, their descendents remained on land and evolved into the rare breed known as Ogre Magi. = The Birth of the Moon = The young Urthe was hit some by a primordial celestial body half the size of Mars. The projectile blew the ruinous lump of rock and stone that used to be Knod out into the void. The impacting iron behemoth burrowed deep into the Earth, only to bounce back again. Yet escape was out of the question. The core of the celestial body, rich in iron, was swallowed by the much heavier Urthe, and sank to its centre. The remainder was flung out to space, together with vast quantities of debris from the land of Knod. The Force of the Moon appeared, and set the displaced, lifeless ruins of the former Orc lands in safe orbit as the moon above, relieving the utter blackness that had descended over the land. The Force of Darkness continued to battle both Sun and Moon for control of the world. They still do battle over Urthe, high in the heavens above, where the moon lies lifeless still, barren outside of the Force of Nature’s influence. The newly-born moon cast a strange spell over some rare individual animals at this time, mutating these wild creatures into the first of the natural Lycanthropes. = Life on Urthe = During this 2ndAge, The seas were still rising from The Great Melt of the 1stAge. The Dwarves felt the quaking of the Urthe, and did not venture out of their caverns, but explored the depths of their mountain homes, as the Elves had explored the surface world before them. The Dwarves eventually found the messages of friendship the Elves had left in the deep caves, and decided to carve their own messages of friendship in the stone, back to the unknown Elves. Meanwhile, the Elves had begun to form permanent cities as they retreated from tumultuous coastal areas, towards high ground. Many Forces were active upon the Urthe, giving rise to new races, and new inspirations. The Elves mastered agricultural principles (though they still rarely ‘farmed’, preferring to let nature run its own course, with their loving assistance), and had domesticated some animals (mainly pigs, goats, and bees) for their products, and some animals for companionship (breeding cooshee, training birds, and teaching a few Hsing-sing apes to walk upright, etc.). Knowledge was still passed down through oral traditions, but the Elves began to write in earnest late in this age, creatings some legendary works of lore that stand as classic tomes to this day. In this age the Elven line began to diverge into the main distinct ethnicities we know today: the High Elves, Grey Elves, and Wild Elves. While the Grey Elves built walled cities of stone, the Wild Elves focused on the natural land and its creatures, and the High Elves developed crafts and handiworks, advanced pottery, trade, and seafaring during this time. Some of the great ships of this Age are still in use by the Elves today. Aom looked on… THE FOURTH AGE OF URTHE: 6450—4300 BCE The Age of Communication—The Age of Trade—The Age of the Twins = Greater Forces of the Age = Garl Glittergold(Twin Paradises): Aspect of Gond, God of Gnomes Ilsensine(Concordant Opposition): God of Illithids Yondalla(Seven Heavens): Aspect of Chauntea, Goddess of Halflings = Black and White = At the dawn of this age, in the year 6450, the Queen of the Grey Elves bore twins; a son with white skin and black hair, and a daughter who was white haired and black skinned. The son was named heir to the throne, while the daughter was tasked to serve as an emissary to the Dwarven people. Since the Grey Elves chose the mountains for their cities, they were the first of their kind to encounter the Dwarves face to face. By now, the Dwarves had built their own civilizations under the highest stony places of the World, had developed a written tongue of their own, and had their own high kings and leaders. After a century of serving both races with the nobility and grace befitting a Grey Elven princess, the Black Elf disappeared during her travels, never to be seen again. Some sages say it was this legendary Dark Princess who begat the entire Dark Elven race, though no Elves discuss such matters with outsiders. During this age, both Elves and Dwarves learned each other’s written languages, and trade grew between the two peoples, forging friendly relations and strong alliances. Both societies minted coins in this age. Most sages say the Dwarves, inspired by the pottery wheels of the Elves, developed the first wheels for transport in this age, for use especially on mining carts, but this revolutionary technology spread fast, and soon, carriages and chariots of great variety were seen about the Urthe by all manner of intelligent peoples. The Grey Elves had begun to notice that their prized pet dakon apes, bred from earlier Hsing-sing, had become so intelligent (developing tools, and even wheels, by 5000 BCE) as to nearly deserve to be considered a ‘people’, too, so the Grey Elven societies cautiously began to free their pet apes back into the wild. Meanwhile, some hobgoblin tribes, isolated and threatened by flooding, evolved into an aquatic breed known as Koalinths, while Bugbear and Goblin mating is thought to have given rise to the new race of creatures known as Gnolls. = Short and Shorter = More Forces were acting upon the Urthe in this age, sowing their own Seeds of Baramin. The first Gnomes and Halflings came into being, created by the Force of Invention (called Garl Glittergold by the Gnomes), and the Force of Agriculture (Called Yondalla by the Halflings), respectively. Their seeds were planted with industrious abundance, in small sheltered spaces too modest to appeal to the Elves or Dwarves. The Gnomes and the Halflings that sprang forth from the soil werelikewise industrious and abundant themselves, and were friendly with the other races during this Age. But mostly, the Gnomes and the Halflings, keenly aware of the dangers of the larger world, kept to their own kind in the Third Age, much as they do now. By the end of this age, so major Forces of Urthe’s Pantheon were established in their realms, influencing events on the Young Urthe, that the how and whys of each are obscure matters for specialist scholars of those faiths. Sages disagree whether omens concerning this so called “Age of Twins” refers most particularly to the legendary children of the Elvish Queen, the creation of the Gnomes and Halflings (the child-like ‘twins’ of Dwarves and Elves, as some clerics say), or are symbolic of the multiplicity of Deities of the age, though several scholars would insist it refers to all these, and perhaps other unnamed facets, too. People in various parts of the world developed settled agriculture. This was a monumental change. Instead of wandering around hunting and gathering food, they could now grow their own. They also began pastoralization, or raising livestock. This helped lead to permanent settlements and the rise of civilizations. Aom looked on… THE MIDDLE PERIOD: 4300 BCE—4300 CE 4300 BCE—1 BCE: THE CLASSICAL EPOCH THE FIFTH AGE OF URTHE: 4300—2150 BCE The Age of Earth—The Age of Agriculture—The Age of the Bull Greater Forces of the Age include the good goddess of Agriculture and two good Giantish Gods; the neutral creator god of the Giants; and evil gods of Oppression, Destruction, and War. = The First Humans = Although this is the Fourth Age of Urthe, some name this time The First Age of Man, for it was at this time that the first true Humans (as cavemen) appeared on the Urthe, evolved from the Elven-bred dakon apes. Lead by a man born Oct 13, 4115 BCE, the Men soon traded with their fellow Urthe races, and became particularly friendly with the Elves, from whom they learned much lore and many skills, including Agriculture, which the Humans used extensively. The plow is first used in this age, and humans make their own pottery. By 3500 BCE, Humans have developed their own writing. By 3114 BCE, mesoamerican humans had developed a calendar from which to reckon their history on Urthe. The population of Men exploded in the Age of the Bull. Some, very rare humans began to commune with the Forces, and the first human clerics and wizards began their arts near the end of this age. The Elvish Bloodline had been sundered by this time, with the varied Elvish peoples splitting into distinct nations of their kindred, though all Elves still reckon this the Age of The Grey Elf King of Anatolia. His lands extended from the Ionian Sea to the Taurus Mountains, and his capital was in Crete at the High Seat of Cydonia. A common unit of currency is the shekel, which is a silver piece. In 2807 BCE, a stone from the sky struck the Urthe. = The First Bronze = The movement of the continents had slowed to an apparent stop in this age, with the map of the fourth age looking almost identical two ages later; however, sages contend that the movement has not stopped completely, and that the continents are still moving, albeit very slowly. It was in this fourth Age that the Dwarves smelted the first bronze in 2300 BCE, which they traded for the papyrus invented by the Elves. The Elves forged their Blades of Ceremony, and the Dwarves wrote their first Scrolls of Metallurgy. Skills and products were all traded freely amongst the good races of the young Urthe. This age saw the rise and fall of King Sargon of Akkad. Aom looked on… THE SIXTH AGE OF URTHE: 2150 BCE—1 BCE The Age of War—The Age of Fire—The Age of the Ram This period concerns the rise of powerful early civilizations, such as the Greek and Roman empires. During this period religious, political, and ethnic differences became pronounced, dividing humans into a host of different groups. Belief systems and culture became codified. Civilizations became more advanced as the state emerged as a powerful entity. Increasingly, people groups became subjugated to other people groups. Transregional trade also became important, as groups from Europe, for example, traded with Asian groups via the Silk Road. Greater Forces of the Age include the gods and goddesses of the Titans, as well as gods of Tyranny and the Dead. = The Age of Fire = Called the Age of Iron by the Dwarves, and The Arian Age by the Elves, this Age saw the nations of Man, Dwarf, and Elf expand until at last, clashes erupted at borders, and war sprang between them all. Though some individual Gnomes and Halflings were pressed into service on all sides, their kind generally stayed out of the warmongering of this age. Battle lines were drawn between racial groups, and within them. = Revenge of the Dark Princess = In 1628 BCE, an underground explosion destroyed the capital of the Grey Elven Nation of Anatolia. Some blame the Drow, and speak of the incident as “The Dark Princess’s Revenge”. = The Spread of the Weave = It was in this age that the Forces of Urthe freely gave magical control of the Weave to their Human worshippers: Arcane and Divine Magic crackled over the surface of the Young Urthe. During this age, The Force of Nothingness grew in strength, only to split into three new entities. Similarly, The Force of Chance split in two during this age, taking on two distinct and contrasting good and evil identities. Though horses had been tamed, befriended, and occasionally mounted by the Elves since the Early ages, and had been used in the fields of farmers and as beasts of burden in the previous age, it was in the Age of War that Men first saddled them for riding, and for battle. One leader of Men, a Cleric of the Force of Justice named Moses, aged 80 years, climbed Mount Sinai for the first time on Sunday May 18 in 1445 BC and delivered the Holy Tablets of Law (a Forceful artifact) to his followers. According to legend, this Cleric lives to 120 years of age. Worshippers of different deities began to fight for the primacy of their faith over all others in a succession of destructive, decades-long conflicts now called “The Holy Wars”. Scribes report an Egyptian King (known as the “Living Spirit”) of possible Half-Elven descent began the earliest of these crusades in about 1350 BC, declaring The Force of Sun to be the supreme deity. Many sages speculate that Moses, Cleric of the Force of Justice and King of a neighboring Human nation, was inspired by "The Living Spirit"'s ruthless example, and declared his Patron Force to be the "One True God" and his countrymen to be a "Chosen People". Such wars as these spread over the Urthe. Sunday May 18 in 965 BC is the start date for Solomon's Temple in the Fourth Year of his 40-year Reign. The End of King Solomon's Reign in 929 BC. On Monday July 21 in 526 BC, the High Elvish army enters Jerusalem and starts burning the Temple. The battle is over 3 days later on Thursday July 24: This date marks the end of the Reigns of the Southern Kings of Israel along with the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple. The completion of the Jerusalem Wall at the End of the Babylonian Exile: Sunday September 8 in 455 BC. = Rise of the Titans = Titans and their gods appear on Urthe in this age, and immediately clash with the Giants, and their gods. In the middle of this Age, the Dwarves mined the first Mithril, (which is named after its discoverer’s sovereign, King Mithras); Elves and Men alike lusted after this “true silver”. Many wars were fought over this rare metal during this age (though it appears that men had little success in these ventures, with most of the known spoils of Mithril ending up in Elvish or Dwarvish hands). As this bloody SIXTH age wore on, Aom stirred… THE COMMON ERA THE MIDDLE PERIOD: 4300 BCE—4300 CE 1 CE—4300 CE: THE MODERN EPOCH THE SEVENTH AGE OF URTHE: 1 CE—2150 CE Age of Monotheism—The Age of Spirituality—The Age of the Fish Greater Forces of the Age include the good goddess of Magic; the Neutral Goddess of Naga; and the evil unified god of Death, Strife, and Tyranny. This period emphasizes the continued advances in commerce and communication throughout various world regions. During this period, cross-cultural interactions led to the diffusion of new ideas and technologies. The state assumed a central role in promoting commerce. During this time, Islam, a religion based on the teaching of the prophet Muhammad, emerged in the Arabian peninsula. Clashes between Christians and Muslims, epitomized by the Crusades, became common. Innovations in industry and agriculture spread throughout Eurasia and Africa. = Banishment of the Gods = In this, the current age, Aom banished the Forces themselves to live in mortal (but Forceful) Avatar form on Urthe. The Forces set upon each other in what came to be known as the Godswar. The Forces of the Elder races sought communion with their people. It is from this event that the Common Era is reckoned as beginning. The Elves and Dwarves, in awe at this Supernatural crisis gripping the planet, and faced with their own Gods standing before them, declared a truce amongst themselves (Elves credit the Sea Elven King of the time with this successful negotiation, and name the Age for him, but both Elves and Dwarves are equaly proud of taking the high road, as deemed “befitting the nobility of the Elder Races”). But the wars of men carried on, and they often still do to this day. The Godswar itself lasted 30 years, ending finally with the Martyrdom of the Force of Endurance in mortal form. Born on the Urthe as the Avatar Yehoshua''(translated as “Aom saves”, in the Old Tongue'') in the Age of Fire (Sunday October 20 in 5 BC is the Day that he was born in Bethlehem.), The Pwer of Endurance chose to be born as Yehoshua, an almost Forceless mortal infant Avatar, and went to his death willingly on a day celebrated as “Good Friday," in 30 AD. When Aom raised the Force of Endurance again, an Immortal God once more, the Godswar had ended. The Ascension of the Force of Endurance happens 40 days after The Resurrection on Friday June 13 in 30 AD. = The Annointed = Some of the Elder Gods lay slain, and their portfolios were taken over by others. Many of the leaders of the nations of men renounced the Gods they had previously served, and Cults of Yehosua, known collectively as “The Annointed”, and minor cults of Aom swept across the Urthe. The Cults of Aom died out in the first century, but some form of "Annointed" faith become the official religion of many Human lands for many centuries to come. Although this widespread state of virtually monotheistic worship has persisted until this day, wars still broke out among Human nations over the years, often with different factions of The Annointed warring amongst themselves. = The Cosmic Event of 774 = A great event took place at this time, the radiation of which is recorded in the tree rings of Urthe. Most sages attribute King Charlemagne with some responsibility for the event. Charlemagne began to subdue the whole region around Pavia in the early months of 774. Also known also as Charles the Great, an Annointed Paladin of legendary renown, Charlemagne was granted the Forces of a Patrician in the spring of 774 by Pope Hadrian I in Rome. He likely used his new Forces to defeat the last of the resistance. No other Lombard dukes or counts made any attempt at relief and Desiderius made no strong counterattack. In the tenth month of the siege, famine was hitting Pavia hard and Desiderius, realising that he was left on his own, opened the gates to Charles and surrendered on some Tuesday in June. Knowing these facts, it is likely Charles unleashed some magical force which left its mark for centuries to come to read within the trees. = Recent events = Recently, worship of the Force of Endurance has been waning, while other faiths are becoming resurgent. The great sages of the Urthe alive today see the signs all around them of the Age nearing its end, though no man alive today will likely live to see the next age emerge. THE EIGHTH AGE OF URTHE: 2150—4300 BCE The Age of Freedom—The Age of Technology—The Age of the Water Bearer Little can be told of these ages yet to come, though most look forward to this as the age of ultimate peace on Urthe, and goodwill shared among all the races. If this comes to pass, sages forsee a likely sharing and development of knowledge and lore as yet unimagined. Some sages suggest that by the end of this age, the oceans will rise again as the ice caps will have melted completely, and some lands will sink under the sea. Some see a great technological leap being made, as the Force of the entire Urthe is harnessed. Travel to distant planets, and even other solar systems, is made possible. In 2160, Morganna Half-Elven, the Veneranble Lady of the Tower of Mystery, sends back to 2010 three heroes to the skies above Babel via a Planar Shift spell. THE LATE PERIOD: 4300—12,900 CE 4300—8600 CE: THE POSTMODERN EPOCH THE NINTH AGE OF URTHE: 4300—6450 CE The Age of Unity—The Age of Wealth—The Age of the Sea-Goat Some sages say the “Age of Capricornian”, as the Elves foretell it, will be a continuation of the peace and prosperity of the previous age, and make little differentiation between the two. Others of a more pessimistic bent see a hidden danger in the promise of this age. Some predict that the Age of the Sea-Goat will be a time that Urthe’s past comes back to haunt us, and people may have to take responsibility for the deeds of their ancestors. As learned sages puzzle over the mysterious “Sea Goat” omen, they fear that the “unity” and “wealth” it promises may not be equally promised to all. One speculation: the continents of Urthe once more join together, and the nations are ruled over by a Forceful, superhuman overlord. Some mystics fortell of an early Seed of Baramin that has spawned a slow-growing leviathan. Others see Urthe developing Type II technology, mastering the Force of the Sun (through the enslavement of Lathander, perhaps?) by the year 5200 CE. THE TENTH AGE OF URTHE: 6450—8600 CE The Age of Flight—The Age of Travel—The Age of the Archer The Age of Sagittarian, some sages believe, will be another age of strife, as the symbol of the archer cannot help but bring weapons and war to mind. It is thought that some will escape this turmoil, although to where they will flee, no sage alive can be sure. Some say, in this late age, no sages will remain to foretell or document the ages to come. Prophets speak the name'Ophiuchus,'and dream of the Rise of the Serpent Bringer. 8600—12,900 CE: THE ULTIMORDIAL EPOCH THE ELEVENTH AGE OF URTHE: 8600—10,750 CE The Age of Chaos—The Age of Destruction—The Age of the Scorpion This age, it is agreed by virtually all sages, will be the worst age the world will ever see. Most sages agree that no creature on Urthe will survive this age, and that many of the Forces, Greater and Lesser, will fall in this age. THE TWELFTH AGE OF URTHE: 10,750—12,900 CE The Age of Ending—The Age of Balance—The Age of the Scales Of this final age, most say that all that was done will be undone, and all will return to the state of things before the First Age.